I recently had a very scary situation where someone tried to break into my Escape (while I was in it at 4am). I was parked in a Walmart parking lot within a few feet of 3 other rv's. Before I go on my next trip I want to have a security system installed. Any suggestions? (Please don't say a dog...mine slept through the entire incident!)

An alarm would not do much in that situation, as you would likely know of the intruder as soon as an alarm would alert you. Plus, the problems associated with an alarm system with it having the potential to go off accidentally would likely be quite high (wind rocking trailer, bear rubbing against it, etc.)

Maybe have a canned air horn to set off would scare the culprit away.

I know that there have been incidents before of people getting broken into while in their RVs, but I think the occurrence is extremely low, given the number of nights spent in RVs.

I sure hope this was your one and only occurrence of this happening. How was he/she trying to break in? Through the door, or a window, or some other way? What kind of damage did they do to your trailer while trying to break in?

One of the reasons I would shy away from overnighting at a Wal-Mart. I'd bet that the burglar didn't think the trailers were occupied. In an RV park or campground, the assumption is that they are. Too many eyes and ears in close proximity for a burglar to feel comfortable.

As for a security system, I wholeheartedly agree with Jim. A hand held horn might chase them away, but an alarm system would be too susceptible to going of in the middle of the night - and upset other campers.

I would suggest to just be careful and cautious when overnighting in such an area. The prevalence of break-ins or other crimes against RVers is very low when compared to society in general. Glad you're OK.

__________________
"You can't buy happiness, but you can buy an RV. And that is pretty close."

Three really good ideas here that if it were me, I would incorporate.
1. Be very selective which Walmart you select to overnight in,
2. Install the motion sensing porch light,
3. Use the key fob to set off the TV's alarm. Criminals do not like either light or a loud alarm.

And Donna's sticker wouldn't be a bad 4th idea. It, however, might not be too visible in the night darkness. I would think that a Pilot would be preferable to Walmart given all the truck drivers around to intervene if necessary. That's my 2-cents worth.